Nick Mason’s Inside Out Tour

Brief rundown: Nick was in conversation with Gary Crow from Experience Music Project. This was followed by A laser show to Pink Floyd music, ( Nick was also in attendance for part of that) and then the book signing followed. Admission was $5 at the door, OR you could have bought online ($6) The event was SOLD OUT. It commenced late, and they ran out of books to sell!

QUOTE: Please refrain from saying, “Well, I’ve always had a deep respect and I mean that most sincerely,” or offering a cigar to Mr. Mason. That stopped being funny in 1976!

The official rules posted on the EMPLIVE.com web site stated that he would sign “1 book and 1 piece of memorabilia”. When Michael got there the rules changed to as many of the Inside Out books you wanted (they were selling the US soft cover version for $30 US) and 2 pieces of memorabilia.

Michael said to pay special attention to the pic where Nick is signing the P.U.L.S.E. LP box. Notice he is signing it upside down!

The event was free and ran from 7pm – 9pm. Books were sold via their gift shop.

It started at 7 but I got there ealy at 5 to get a nice spot. EMP members got tickets in advance and were let into the JBL Theater first, but there were only about a dozen members there.

Nick came out to a round of applause and took his place at the podium. The host had said he would not actually read from the book since we can all read ourselves. This was to be a night of Q&A and then the autographs.

Nick got the usual pedestrian questions that were:

a. Answered in the book.
b. Answered with about 5 seconds of research.
c. Just plain silly.

This is what I asked him: Me: Mr. Mason, first let me thank you for coming to Seattle. Rick didn’t come by for his CD signing tour so I really appreciate your coming way out here. [The jab at Rick made him smile – get what you want from that] The band image has always been one of 4 nice upstanding British gentlemen [at this he turned to look behind him as if I was referring to someone else]. On the Wall DVD commentary Roger says to Gerry Scarfe during “Young Lust” that they never did anything of the sort with groupies that occurs in that scene. Imagine my surprise when I read in your book that Roger and yourself did indeed “enjoy” the company of a groupie or 2. Just how much of the Rock n Roll lifestyle did you’all lead? And WHAT THE HELL WAS THE PUBLIUS ENIGMA?

Nick: Not much really. I like Peter Gabriel’s quote of after a gig the most exciting this is unwrapping the hotel bath soap. I popped in and said “So you were no Keith Moon?” and Nick says Oh no! I was good friends with Keith and let me tell you he could be most entertaining at times, but that behaviour is too much like work. To paraphrase the rest he said that living life to such excesses can only lead to disaster as his friend Keith is no longer here.

PUBLIUS ENIGMA EXPLAINED!!!

Then he asked me to repeat my other question and I said What the heck was the Enigma? At this he gave me a knowing look and said:

Nick: That was a ploy done by EMI. They had a man working for them who adored puzzles. He used to work for the Reagan administration [laughter from the crowd, but he was being 100% serious!]. His job then would be to be in meetings with the president and when Reagan would say “Let’s bomb these people” he would say “That’s not a good idea sir!”. He was working for EMI and suggested that a puzzle be created that could be followed on the Web.

The prize [I guess there was really one!] was never given out. To this day it remains unresolved. The prize was something like a crop of trees planted in a clear cut area of forest or something to that effect. It was not to be a prize of some tangible thing [such as a ride in the blimp or a front row seat at Earls Court] but rather a touchy-feely sort of gift that was more of a philanthropic thing than something you could hang on the wall. [I mentioned that the words were displayed on the lights at the Meadowlands gig] We, of course, could not see that from where we stood but clearly members of the crew were in on the riddle. He then confirmed that the 3 band members had NOTHING to do with it, but were aware of it and really didn’t care about it and that the whole this has been dead for years with nobody at EMI left to care about it.

So anyone out there who thinks they solved it or is still trying to solve it, please forget it and give up and resume your life.

Next time Nick picked me I asked: Me: How much of you is on aMLoR and what is the truth to the rumor that Gary Wallace was playing most if not all drums during the start of the ’87 tour. Nick: There is some of me on that LP but I will admit a lot is not me. It had nothing to do with the inability to play but rather an inherent laziness I had that prevented me from coming into the studio. I would adopt the attitude of “Bah just get some session person to do the drums, I can’t be bothered and who would know?” and therefore whole songs are done by someone else. The problem with this is that when the tour began I had to work very hard during the rehearsals because for the most part I was learning the material then and there. That was a big mistake I did not repeat on the next tour. Gary was not there to cover for me as by the time the tour kicked off I was able to play the new songs.

I can’t remember the whole night but a few things I can recall. Such as when someone asked about the little guitar part that bridges the gap between POTW 1 & 2 on the Animals 8-Track. The fan wanted to know if this version was available anywhere else. Nick seemed surprised that such a thing even existed. He had never heard of bonus material being offered on an 8-Track tape. Seeing that he had no idea what the guy was talking about I blurted out that the track was available on the now out of print CD “Goldtop” by Snowy White as the solo is done by him not Dave. At this Nick looked at me with that typical look of amazement when fans know your life’s work better than you do.

A funny moment came when someone asked since TDB seemingly has so many overtures to Roger, could TDB be considered a peace offering to him and was the LP recorded with that in mind? At this Nick said that saying TDB was a peace offering to Roger is like saying the Normandy invasion was a peace offering to Adolf Hitler. At this the whole place roared with laughter and even Nick seemed a little embarrassed by his comment. He went on to say TDB is not a peace offering to Roger and if you think that you got the wrong idea.

There was also a retarded fan [retarded as in mentally challenged, not a really stupid fan] who asked him about the heartbeat readout on the gatefold of DSoTM. Nick said told him is supposed to represent the human heart and that the opening of DSoTM is supposed to be a heartbeat. He said a real heart did not have the correct tempo [this invoke much laughter] so it was done with a bass drum and a soft beater. The fellow asked “did you do that?” and Nick smiled at him and said “Yes! I did it all by myself.”

He was very nice to the chap even though he was very rambly and a little disjointed for obvious reasons. This same fellow also mentioned the infamous Edgewater Inn here in Seattle and Nick jumped in to say that they also stayed there and also fished out the window but never caught a shark. He was of the mind that if the members of Led Zep actually got a shark they got it from the local fish monger and not from fishing out the hotel window.

He confirmed to one fan he has no plans to ever give a drum clinic as someone who wants to learn to play a musical instrument should get proper instruction from someone who knows what they are doing.

Someone also asked his thoughts on the laser show he saw the night before. He said that he only hung around for 2 tracks, Run Like Hell and one other and that he was impressed. Normally he and the others cannot see the light show and he is always impressed by a good light show when he can actually look at it.

Nobody said they always had the deep respect or offered him a cigar. One fan had him sign an acoustic guitar.

The JBL Theater seats 150 and there were about 50 empty seats. I think the majority of folks who wanted to see him came to the previous nights deal at the Lazerdome next door. This made the night much more cozy and relaxed than the madhouse the last night must have been.

Pictures and info thanks to Michael Teige

April 14 San Francisco Booksmith off site at All Saints Church 1350 Waller Street

Brief rundown: San Francisco Chronicle rock critic Joel Selvin interviewed Nick. The book signing followed. Nick agreed to sign one additional Pink Floyd item (such as CDs or posters) for every copy of his book that was purchased through the Booksmith

You can read an article about Nick, written by Joel Selvin after the interview

Anecdote from Nick: “When we realised we had to find someone to work with us to cover for Syd, we knew we needed someone who could play guitar brilliantly, sing great, and look fantastic … But we couldn’t find anyone like that so we hired David Gilmour … (room erupts with laughter) … I can only tell that one when David’s not here”

Pictures and info thanks to Tony Mulligan

Before the interview Nick was signing books for the bookstore (I assume) and they let us line up. I got my books signed along with CD covers from WYWH, MFSL Meddle and Relics. As he was signing I thanked him for all the music they have given us but he was in production mode and I’m not even sure he heard me.

I knew Nick would shine in the interview and he did. It was being taped for channel 30 in Pleasanton but I don’t get it. I imagine it will hit the net eventually.

DSoTM and the WoOz. Nick seemed amused by this and made a comment about how it starts at the third roar? What happens if you start it at the first or second? he suggested we listen to their music to other movies.

Algie: Algie (possible misspelling) was The Pig. The one that got away from the at Battersea. It is one thing to know the story but quite another to hear it with Nicks famous sense of humor in person. It was very funny. He talked about how they had all gathered, including the sharpshooter, on the first day but the clouds didn’t cooperate. Bright and early the next morning everyone showed up. Except the sharpshooter.

As we all know the pig escaped and shot up into the sky. The police helicopter couldn’t catch it as it was rising as the rate of (IIRC) 2000 feet a minute. Eventually the safety valve released and Algie came down. The pig from the Animals tour was Son of Algie.

WYWH: This was very interesting. They had nearly completed WYWH when Syd showed up in the studio. At first they all wondered how this guy had gotten by security by eventually recognized him. The picture in the book was a Polaroid Nick shot. he had apprehensions about publishing it but since other books had pictures of that era he decided to do it. I’m not clear on whether he asked DG or RW about it. He mentioned it but I’m not sure if they actually spoke.

WYWH was not initially about Syd but after he showed up it affected them deeply and influenced the album but he was not specific in how.

TW: They were offered more money if they completed it before the end of the year and Rog pushed them to get it done. I *think* he mentioned David was not happy with this.

In the concert they had the surrogate band with masks of them up to ItF. After the plane hit the surrogates froze and they took over. Looking back he thought the masks were silly because no one knew what they looked like anyway and when they froze he didn’t remember the significance in it.

Questions: How do you feel about the bands you influenced? He said every band is influenced about other bands and didn’t have much to say about it except the Johnny Rotten t-shirt was evidently discussed privately but not publicly. My impression was they were not very happy about it but shuffled it under the rug and moved on.

On the clone bands he seemed more amused than anything about them. Why would anyone want to recreate my mistakes?

What about the Paul is dead rumor and how it related to DSoTM? Wow! Talk about a puzzled look. There was dead silence. Nick explained how they has recorded Paul and Linda for possible inclusion in UaT but decided against it because his voice was to recognizable and would detract from what they were trying to achieve.

The best Do you have any unreleased material? He had discussed Household Objects earlier and said it was terrible and everyone would find it boring. TW videos were not, in the end, what they wanted to use in TW movie. he didn’t mention quality, mind you. He mentioned they would not work in the context of the movie.

He mentioned they had hundreds of 1/4 inch tapes. I’m assuming these are all the live recordings they made because, as rumor has it, they recorded all their live shows. He was a bit vague about it but the general gist I got was it was up to the record company and how many copies of a recording do customers want? Obviously he doesn’t know us!

If you have a chance to go to a signing do it! You will not be disappointed.

Pictures and info thanks to Tom Hood

Unsurprisingly, he gave the usual “no plans” re a tour, but he did say that “I think, if there were some charity event such as another ‘live aid’ that it might be a good excuse to get together and play.

When the subject of “household objects” came up, he also gave the usual “there’s no useful material”.

Then he went on in a most conversational manner to let on that there are a a bunch of 1/4 inch tapes (that he did not want to try finding) in which nobody would have any interest because it was all very much the same thing over and over again except for this 8-bars here or something or other there….recordings of all the mistakes he’s ever made.

The surprise for me was the question “is there any link between tdsotm and the ‘paul is dead hoax’ ?” it elicited, first, a momentarily-blank-WTF?? look, and then a “no, that’s the wizard of oz thing” (wiz-oz having come up earlier during the interview, when we were cordially invited to “try other albums with other films. :-)”

Review thanks to H W Neff

April 16 Los Angeles Virgin Mega Store 8000 Sunset Blvd

Brief rundown: Standard Book signing

It’s funny… I haven’t even seen Pink Floyd or any incarnation thereof yet and I already have autographs of 2 of the members. Go figure. Anyways….

We (my husband and I) got down to Virgin at about 12:45 and there were already about 250 people in front of me. The crowd was mostly ranging from a few years older than I was to about 50… prominent shirts seemed to be the Wall and TDB. By the time we left I would guess about 450 came to the thing. People kept stopping while waiting in traffic.. “What are you guys waiting for?” “Nick Mason.” “Who?” “The drummer for Pink Floyd.” “Oh!” (sheesh)

Once the line started moving, it went pretty fast. So much for the “no other items” policy.. I should have brought something as a few people came out with signed records; I even saw a few people that brought guitars with them. Arrgh.

You can probably guess by the time I got in the building, I was literally jumping up and down like a little kid. 10 people ahead of me and sitting there was… Nick. Oh my God, that’s Nick Mason!! Instant butterflies.

Once I got up to him, this is how it transpired: Me: Hey, what’s up? (Literally.. I can’t believe I said something that stupid) Nick: Hi. (in perfect, polite british demeanor). While Nick’s signing my book, the chick standing next to him (assistant) asks me, “How are you doing today, Amanda?” All I could say was, “Ecstatic!” Cause that’s what I was.

Nick hands the book back to me and — hell yeah! — I get to shake his hand!! He said thank you. “Thank you very much… thanks for the music.” It’s all I could say. My husband told me afterwards that Nick looked like he knew I was pretty excited. We stood there for a couple more minutes, then left…. best 35 bucks I’ve ever spent (I was so happy I forgot to get the parking validated!!)

Pictures and info thanks to Amanda

I don’t have a lot to say about this.I got there an hour and a half early with 50 people ahead of me. I warmed up to this Iranian guy next to me with a digital camera (whom I’ll need later) and the time passed.

I’m hung over and in desperate need for water …and I’m seeing these people walk by with the most diverse Pink Floyd shirts, it becomes a contest for the best outfit.

Next thing you know the line is moving. Before I enter ground zero a chick with a pack of “stick em’s” has me write down the name Nick will sign it to. That’s great……but I had plans to tell Nick to write “Shine on” and so forth. (Oh well, a dumb thought).

As I entered the Virgin Megastore ..the Dark Side of the Moon played softly in the background. The sound of camaras shuttering were everywhere. Anyway he signed my books, we took some pics and life is good. I just wish I hadn’t thrown out my receipt from Virgin….the parking guy stuck me for 9 bucks. You live and learn.

Brief rundown: Nick was introduced by Steve Riggio, and there was a question & answer segment.

Pictures thanks to Kristen.

Roger Waters was spotted near the venue of Nicks book signing event on 19 April. It was later confirmed that they had dinner together. (Pic thanks to Moonchild)

April 20

232 E. Ridgewood Ave. Ridgewood NJ

Their blurb said ‘Come meet the original member of this infamous Rock Group!!’

This was just a standard book signing event.

I arrived there with my wife around 2:30pm to avoid the crowds and purchase our books early. We then had lunch and came back at 4pm to get on line.

There were already about 25 people waiting to meet Nick and 2 hours to go. The wait in line went quick since we met a nice guy and his 3 yr old son. Ed and Eddie.

A book was past around and everyone was asked to sign it and leave a message for Nick.

At around 5:45pm the doors opened and everyone was directed inside and we went down stairs to form a line in front of the table Nick would sign the books.

About 5 minutes later Nick was introduced with a few cheers and lots of clapping. He thanked everyone for coming and asked if we would all sign his journal (as I stated earlier). Echoes started playing in the background and Nick began signing books and memorabilia. Although I expected to see a larger turn out everyone there seemed very excited and big fans of Pink Floyd.

Pictures & story thanks to August Gitto

Well I left work at 3:00pm est to hopefully be at Book-Ends by around 5:00pm ( it roughly was a 2 hour trip) When I got there I was in luck that only 50-80 people were in line already. I went in and got my copy of the book and another copy of The Wall on CD (I called earlier in the week and I was told only the books no memorabilia would be signed. So I left all my stuff at home.)

I went back out to wait in line it was around 87 degrees and a great breeze so it was a nice day to be in line. I started to look through the book and just was amazed with everything in it. One of the things that shocked me the most was the picture of Syd at the WYWH recording.

I was also able to meet some good people there and had some good conversations but that is to be expected at any time or place were Pink Floyd fans gather. After about 45 mins we were told he was here and they were to start early. They let us in to the store and lead us to the basement and we waited in line and about 5 mins. When I guess the manager came down the steps and introduced Nick.

It was incredible, people were cheering and clapping. Since I am only 24 I have not been able to see any Floyd shows and this is probably the closest I will ever get to meet any of them in person it truly was an Amazing thing for me.

There was no Q&A period at all =( but he seemed to be in great sprits smiled a lot and talked briefly with some fans. Overall I only waited in line to get up to him for like 30 mins. When I got close some of the people behind me noted they didn’t bring any cameras and there was this guy that was kind of milling around (probably security he was dressed normal though) well that guy was there also to help with taking pictures. So I asked him to take mine with Nick and by this point the 5 guys behind me asked me if they can get there pictures taken with him too and if I could email them to each one.What was I gonna say no of course not ?

Overall by far this was one of the greatest moments in my life and it will never be forgotten. I was back on the road heading home at around 6:40pm est listening to Floyd the entire way.

Review thanks to Mike Derr

Nick did a Rockline LIVE interview on April 20, @ 11:30pm EST. The broadcast was Nationwide & syndicated across 70 stations

Nick was guest DJ on WAXQ Rock 104 that went to air on 19th April. In addition, there was a TV interview on NY 1

Other media events included radio interviews on two Seattle stations, KFOG in San Francisco, a Rock talk show in Chicago, and several in New York.

Most people who have seen the front cover of Nick’s book have assumed that the person in the full race suit and helmet is in fact Nick Mason. However, we know different! Peter Curzon (Co-author of Mind Over Matter & Graphic Designer) let the cat out of the bag to our UK correspondent jce.

So, if it’s not Nick Mason, then who is it? Put your thinking caps on, and when you get to the stage of saying ‘I don’t know’ click HERE and we will tell you!